Sharpen Your Needles, “Dragon Tattoo” Has A Release Date

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If you just can’t wait to see a journalist locked up in a psychopath’s subterranean torture chamber, you should know that the Swedish version of “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” is currently out on DVD. But if you want to see all that occur IN ENGLISH, well then you’ve got precisely seventeen months from today to go. That’s when Sony will release the English-language version of Steig Larsson’s international bestseller. Mike Fleming Deadline says Sony has nailed down 12/21/11 for the thriller, despite not having its leads cast:

The studio continues talking with Daniel Craig to play publisher Mikael Blomkvist, but sources tell me there's a scheduling problem for him involving the long delayed next Bond pic and Cowboys & Aliens…

The studio is also signing test deals with a group of young actresses dying to play the complex role of Lisbeth Salander. While Carey Mulligan, Ellen Page, and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) have been mentioned as possible Lisbeth candidates, I’m told others include Emily Browning (Sucker Punch), Sara Snook (Sleeping Beauty), Rooney Mara (The Social Network) and Sophie Lowe (Blame). Some have submitted their own tapes to director David Fincher already, while others will test shortly for the role. It's a process similar to the one Sony orchestrated before choosing Andrew Garfield to play Spider-Man.

Obviously, a lot of people are looking forward to this movie because they loved the book so much (and because they have a fear of subtitles). But I think Fincher is the real draw here. This is the man who made “Seven” and “Zodiac.” I thought the latter film was the best of the previous decade. No one does menace quite like Fincher does these days, and “Dragon Tattoo” has that quality in spades. It’s twisted and gory and downright sadistic. So much so that it’s hard to understand how it became so popular to begin with. People are twisted.